


A Very German Christmas?

by Vanillinzucker



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, German Christmas, M/M, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 09:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanillinzucker/pseuds/Vanillinzucker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, imagine Newt and Hermann in the K-Lab, celebrating Christmas (or trying to do so) the traditional German way. </p><p>„Newton, no. Just no.“<br/>„But Hermann, please!“ Newt did notice he started to sound like a whiny child, but he couldn’t stop halfway through it. “Don’t you miss it?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Very German Christmas?

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm a bit late for this, but still - Have a Newt and Hermann Christmas story!

„Newton, no. Just no.“

„But Hermann, please!“ Newt did notice he started to sound like a whiny child, but he couldn’t stop halfway through it. “Don’t you miss it?”

“How can I miss it if it’s been ages ago we did it the last time? I can barely remember.” Hermann had now put on his I’m-done-talking-about-this face, which was the second most terrifying one after the “Why is there an unidentifiable kaiju organ on my desk?” one.

It all started a week ago when Herc told them that they would have a big Christmas celebration this year – 2025 – to come to terms with the past Christmases they only celebrated sparsely. Newton got all misty eyed and Hermann felt there was something unpleasant bound to happen. And it did. Newton, as it was Sunday, the 21st of December, tackled him in the lab, saying he had something to propose.

“Do you ever think of Germany?” he’d asked. His tone was right on the brink to innocence, which made him feel even more suspicious.  
“Why do you ask? I wasn’t there since I was… in my early twenties. It has been 10 years.”

“But do you miss it?” Now Newton’s strange sincere voice really started to worry him.  
“Will this lead somewhere eventually?”

“Yes!” he called. “Of course, right: Here’s the thing – you do realize they’re having a Christmas party?” For a second, Hermann wondered who ‘they’ were, since they were part of the group of people celebrating Christmas, too. Or, at least, they had been the last few years.

“Yes, I do. How am I going to forget that when they’re decorating a massively kitschy tree in the halls?” He didn’t, however, comment on the truly horrible ornaments Newt made – little glittering Kaiju ornaments. “Right, because that’s what you wanted to be reminded of at Christmas” Raleigh had muttered sarcastically, stating right what Hermann was thinking. “But that’s what brought us together in the first place!” Newton said, sentimental and even odder than usual.

“A Christmas party is nice and all” Newt stated, braving up to say his wish “But I want to have a German Christmas.” Hermann blinked, stunned for a minute. “What do you mean, a German Christmas? There’s no such thing. Christmas is universal.”

Newt rolled his eyes. “Yes, obviously. But you know there are some traditions we do that the other’s don’t. We would normally celebrate it on Christmas Eve.” Since when are we considered a ‘we’? Hermann thought.  “And you must miss the customs, too.”

“I doubt we even have the same traditions. We are not from the same state, as you may recall.”

In the end, Newton became unbearable during the day and at one point Hermann almost thought he’d start crying. He was childish on his normal days, but this was like the cherry on top. Plus, even though he was annoying, Hermann couldn’t stand his boyfriend being sad. If he was sad, then there had to be something seriously wrong. “Oh, well, fine, then. But why is it so important to you, anyway?” Hermann asked, giving in after all. It couldn’t just be that Newton had a thing for national identity just now.

“It just is.” he said, smiling “and it means a lot to me that you’re doing this. You can consider that my Christmas present.” He went off and Hermann yelled down the corridor “I wasn’t going to actually buy you something!” which was a total lie.

A day later, there was no way both of them could work. Well, fulfilling Newts newfound need for Christmas was work for Hermann, but no _actual_ work in the lab. “Tell me, why I’m doing this again?” he groaned, trying to find a recipe only on how to bake a _Stollen_. “You want to appease the ghost of the German Christmas!”  

“And that means you.”

“Exactly.” Newt was, surprisingly enough, very strict when it came to organizing. Cookies needed to be baked (“This is an original recipe from my dad” Newt said proud and Hermann shook his head, wondering what on earth had possessed Newt to bring that all the way to the Shatterdome), wreaths had to be placed _(“_ _Warum zum Teufel brauchst du einen Adventskranz wenn der vierte Advent schon vorbei ist?”_ Hermann asked after the conifer stung him for about the hundredth time) and _Glühwein_ was cooked (and tasted a bit too often by Hermann, who regretted his decision to just go with the German Christmas every day leading up to the 24 th)

“We need a Christmas tree!” he said on the morning of the 24th. Hermann was not yet ready to be talked too, but he couldn’t find the coffee. “Newt, did you forget to make coffee?” he said sleepily, even falling back on his habit of calling him only Newton. That was something he wouldn’t get used to and, in the worst case, getting used to it would mean Newt would invent a horrible abbreviation of his own name. And Hermann just wasn’t a name meant to be shortened.

“I’m sorry, I was just thinking about a _Tannenbaum_!” he said excitedly. Hermann laid his head on the table, not even glancing at him. “I don’t need a friggin’ _Tannenbaum_ ; I need a cup of coffee. Now!”

After he had his cup, he decided he should do something. “Newton, we don’t need another tree. We have one.” “But I want one for us.” he urged. “A German tree?” Hermann asked, almost laconic. “Well, yes! Finally, you get it.” he glanced over to him surprised “But you’re joking, yes?”

He nodded.  “We can just celebrate in the halls. And we should invite the others” he said, much to his own surprise. “Even though they’re not German, they are certainly free this evening. The other party is tomorrow.”  
“But, as you said, they are not German.” Newton pouted.  
“Does that mean you can’t be invited to a German Christmas if you’re not German? That’s a bit discriminating. And also, it’s not really the spirit of Christmas. Any Christmas, really.”

Now even he was starting to get used to the Christmas idea.

“What are we going to do about the church?” Newt asked then, after agreeing that they should celebrate together. The others were worried about their strange behavior (and the smell of burnt raisins from the K-Lab) anyway.

“What church?”

Didn’t you go to church to see the _Krippenspiel_ when you were little?”

“Yes, we did. I think everyone did, even the Atheists and the Jews. It’s a social thing.”

Newt nodded excitedly. “So, where are we going to get one?”

“I don’t think that’s possible, unless you want the others to play the rolls. I mean, I can sort of imagine Raleigh to be the angel and Mako should be Maria, because she’s female, but… No, scratch that, we’re not doing a _Krippenspiel_. I mean, who for? Ourselves?”

Newt had the audacity to look disappointed. “Look, I know you think this is important. But we did so much already. I tried to bake, for Christ’s sake. They are going to make fun of me forever because I wore an apron and used heart shaped cookie cutters.”  
“I thought you looked cute.” Newt offered, smiling at him. “Please, stop it.” Hermann interjected. If he was starting that now, soon they would be fucking just for the sake of the frilly apron. Again.

He kissed him softly. “And now I’m going to play your housewife again” he raised a finger to say _Don’t think that’s a normal thing now_ “To make you a fucking _Weihnachtsgans_ and dumplings.”

“I can’t cook! I honestly tried.” Newt said. “Yes and we all know how that ended.” he answered, shuddering while he thought about how Newton almost poisoned them all. 

Later, he was in the kitchen, about to shove the goose into the oven, when Newt wandered in. “The others will join us this evening.” he said, sitting down on the counter in front of Hermann. “Also, you do look cute in that apron.” “Yes, you already mention that. Five times.” He pulled on the strings, drawing him closer. “Don’t you want to make out?” he asked, giving him a moony look, teenager-worthy, in a hopeful voice.  
“Do you want me to smack you with a spoon?” he asked in return, waving said object threateningly “Well, if you’re into that” Newt said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Hermann placed his hand on Newts shoulders, sighing “Look, I need to watch the food.” He gestured towards the oven, where the goose started to give off an alluring smell.

“Oh, I like you go all housewife-y. Can I help you?”  
“Don’t you have something to do? Like, I don’t know, crack some nuts.” “It’s funny how you can say something like that and yet be totally neutral.”

“Maybe because I’m not acting like a 13-year old boy in the puberty?”  
“No, that’s not it. I bet the other guys sound weird saying that, too.”

“Okay, well, I guess you can help me then. If you promise to not accidentally substitute mayonnaise with Kaiju Blue.” “Aw, come on, dude, that was like, one time!” “Well, that’s what’s happening if you try to cook in a lab where highly toxic substances are kept in the same fridge as butter and bananas.” Newt just begged internally for Hermann to not start another rant about how to keep different life areas separated from each other and miraculously, he stopped. A Christmas Miracle, after all.

“Just chop the potatoes.” “How many?” he asked, eyeing the mountain of potatoes that was decorating the kitchen table with growing dread.  
“All of them.” Hermann said unfazed, continuing to cook a red cabbage. “You did want a German meal after all.”

“But what do you need them for?”  
“Dumplings and potato salad. Now chop.”

Finally, the dinner was ready, “I guess the good thing about German Christmas is that no one insists to wear horrible Christmas sweaters.” Hermann said while pulling the food out of the oven and placing everything in bowls. The moment he turned around, his confident smile fell apart. “Or not.” Newton’s sweater was horrible, but otherwise, he looked attractive. Normally, Newt was happy. He was a generally sunny character. But now, he was beaming. “Might I rip that pullover off you” Hermann asked very politely.  
“You might.” Newt answered brightly “After dinner. But you should put the apron on again.”  
“Stop that thing with the apron. I think your developing a fetish.”  Newt just grinned sheepishly.

They carried in the food to the big table they put next to the glowing Christmas tree. The few people that remained after the Kaiju war was over already sat there. He supposed it was their last Christmas in the Shatterdome anyway.

The food was well received or maybe they just wanted to escape Hermann’s deadly glare when they tried to criticize him on his food – it was a bit of a sore point for him. Newt, however, was beaming as he observed the others. “You were right – it’s better with the others. Although” he whispered in his ear while Hermann helplessly rolled his eyes at his too-loud whisper “I would like to have you under the Christmas tree for myself.”

After the others were gone, full of greasy German Christmas food and more than a bit drunken from the _Glühwein_ , Newt hugged Hermann. Hermann was used to all kinds of advances from him, but a simple hug was pretty rare. So rare that he felt a bit awkward while trying to fit his bony arms around him. “ _Danke_ ” he said into his sweater.

“I still don’t get why it’s important to you” he said. “But you’re important to me, so I did it. There’s nothing to it.”

“But I know you’re not that into holidays.”  
“But I’m into you.”

“What possessed you to say this?” Newt grinned “Have you had too much Glühwein?”

“Can you be serious for a second?” Newts smile toned down a bit and Hermann almost regretted snapping. “I do love you Newt. That’s the only thing I’ve got to say to this” he smirked, which was a gesture so rare that Newt believed it to be a myth “and next time, maybe we could just go to Germany, if you want to have German Christmas so bad.” 

**Author's Note:**

> So, that's what I'm doing over the Christmas holidays. The food I mentioned is the food my family eats, but I can't (because it's not exactly vegetarian).  
> Also, I love the idea of Hermann in the kitchen. I may have a soft spot for people who can cook, most likely because I'm a desaster in the kitchen. 
> 
> Glühwein... delicious hot mulled wine  
> Adventskranz ... wreath with four candles, one for every advent sunday  
> Tannenbaum... well, a Christmas tree, but normally decorated on the days around Christmas, not earlier  
> Krippenspiel... Children or generally people from one parish are reenacting the birth of Jesus in the church on the 24th  
> Stollen... I don't even know how to describe it (just a baked thing with butter and powdered sugar and raisings) 
> 
> Christmas traditions can be different though, in every part of Germany and in every family (but I'm sure you know that)


End file.
